Community Highlights

Has everybody seen the e-mail from Kelling regarding the 2021 star party?
 
Looks like they are basing 2021 entry on 2020 bookings, so you are automatically entered into the same pitch, same time frame ETC.
 
It is all explained on the e-mail but there is a time limit to book / make alterations, so please check your e-mails.

Please can you post on here if you intend to book your pitches for 2021  .....  I will keep the pitches as this current year unless anyone lets me know
they do not require their pitch.  Once we have the list I can then send out booking references to book at Kelling this year
 
Sheila

EMS is now listed on the directory of the new native app being developed for this software. If you want to try this out, you can now do so.
 

 
Important: this is a beta...
 
I can't emphasise the above enough. The app has had only limited beta testing, limited to the developer's own forums, and is only now being opened up to a wider audience. I will be able to provide only very basic support. If you are not able or willing to work through bugs, do not download the apps at this time.
 
If you're happy to test new functionality and provide feedback on the beta experience then you can do so, using the below links:
 
 
 
I've personally only tested the iOS app, as an iPhone is what I have access to. In order to access the beta I had to install Apple's beta app store, called TestFlight, and download the beta from that. I believe Google runs a similar testing approach through its own store but I can't tell you how that works as I've never used it.
 
When attempting to sign it the first time I did get a blank white screen and needed to kill the app (demonstrating that it's still very much a beta). It worked fine on the second attempt.
 
When you open the app you can browse or search for communities on it. EMS is under the Hobbyist section.

With Kelling fast approaching and Coronavirus still very much on everybody's minds, be sure to keep informed by keeping an eye on this thread.

Welcome to the newest version of the East Midlands Stargazers website
 
Thank you all for your patience while the website was offline.
 
Reminder: the first step in fixing any bugs is to clear your browser cache! 😉
 
New Features...

Downtime this Saturday, 12 September 2020
 
East Midlands Stargazers will be down, this Saturday, while a software upgrade and server migration are performed.
 
What's changing?
 
EMS is being modernised, once again, to bring us up to modern standards and introduce a few new features.
 
Customisation options
 
You'll be able to customise the way EMS looks and feels according to your own preferences, including the use of a light or dark theme (see the next paragraph)...

Internet Explorer will no longer be supported. Internet Explorer has been clinging to life for a lot longer than many anticipated. It uses an archaic rendering engine, has numerous vulnerabilities that impact both security and privacy, requires workarounds to get it to work with many websites, including ours, and has been surpassed by Microsoft's own newer Edge browsers (in two versions.)

This is a brilliant and moving poem about our heroes in the NHS fighting the virus. The poem was heard on the radio and the creator of this video combined it with images of the crisis in our hospitals. Please stay safe everyone.

Hi,
Some Astro show dates for your diary's.
 
European Astrofest 2020 :  Friday January 31 + Saturday February 1st      Kensington, London.  (yes, its early this year !)   Links below for full details :
https://europeanastrofest.com
 
 
Practical Astronomy Show 2020 :  Saturday 21 March 2020     Kettering     Show link and speaker info just released below :
https://practicalastroshow.com/speakers/?fbclid=IwAR1ZGlvAG2q_OUcRbKzONo8E9puSIqyN9ABnqfNWEtu3g5FyOp8TJFkDv_M
 
 
International Astronomy Show 2020 :   Dates in November to be confirmed.   Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.   Link below to homepage for more info :
https://www.ukastroshow.com
 
 
After 15 consecutive visits to Astrofest, i have decided to give it a miss this year 😓
Reasons include me being disappointed with the show in 2018 & 2019, the travel involved, as well as 2 other shows closer to home.
 
But i will definitely be at the PAS in March and almost certainly at the IAS in November as well.
I thought the PAS was excellent last year, and for a first show for them, they hit the ground running and its all for free !!
 
@Derbyshire Dave : you may be interested in the 'APT' talk ?
 
Hopefully i'll see some of you there in Kettering ??  
Regards, Rob 😀
 

Really needs more data
3 x 1800 S2
3 x 1800 Ha
1x 1800 O3
Tak102 reduced to 5.7
 

I decided on a shoot-out with two conventional 1.25" prism diagonals: a Takahashi TAKSD1 and a Baader Planetarium T-2. The telescope used was an Orion 90mm StarMax Maksutov.
 

Baader Planetarium Prism Diagonal T-2/90deg and Takahashi TAKSD1
 
These two prism diagonals were also compared against a third which is a 1.25" Baader Zeiss Amici (also equipped with a helical focuser).
 

Baader Zeiss Amici
 
The target was primarily a setting twilight Venus, although I also intended to view Saturn as it was in conjunction with Venus on the 11th of December. I didn’t have much time before both planets were too low so I primarily used an 18mm Astro Hutech, giving 69x. Venus was very bright and easily seen early on with a 25mm AH orthoscopic. For Venus I also employed a Baader Double Polarising filter.
 

Venus/Saturn conjunction
 
The Tak’ was up first.
 

 
It is a lightweight diagonal and I have read reviews stating that the housing is plastic. I'm pretty sure it isn't and is a light metal alloy or possibly aluminium. I'm not so sure about the base plate, but I'm not totally convinced it isn’t also metal. It could very well be be a hard type of plastic. Unlike the Baader diagonals there is no filter thread in the nosepiece. Some have complained about the Tak's plastic collet snagging undercuts. I haven’t had any real problems although it helps if you use smoothies and barrels with shallow undercuts or those with lower lip flares (GSO, Tele Vue). The TAKSD1 gave a bright, sharp image with no light scatter and easily revealed the Venusian phase. The conventional Baader was next, followed by the Amici. Apart from the mirror reversing I could tell no difference between the Tak’ and the Amici. There was no hint of the prism roof with the Zeiss Amici. The Baader Planetarium T-2 also gave a sharp image, although I thought it was fractionally darker.
 

 
The amount was almost imperceptible though and may have been my imagination. As Saturn became more prominent I switched all three to that.
 

 
I can't choose a real winner. The Takahashi gave a bright, sharp image as did the Baader Zeiss Amici. The Baader bog-standard wasn't really any different and had the advantage over the Tak' of having a helical focuser. The Takahashi and standard Baader diagonals are about the same price.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Meteor detection counts September - November 2019
 
Although I've not really posted any results, my meteor detector has been running since mid August without too many major issues.  It's tucked away in a corner and I often forget it's still running.
 
I've finally got around to updating my spreadsheet from the data automatically captured by the Spectrum Lab RMOB files.
 
I had a few problems in September with local interference causing some crazy readings (hundreds per hour in some cases), i zeroed out those that were obviously wrong.
I'm fairly certain some of it was due to heavy electrical equipment being used over the road and in direct line of sight of the antenna.
 
October and November were both much better with good levels of hits per day and no problems from external interference.
 
September:

 
October:

 
November:

 
I've seen posts on the RMOB facebook page of people detecting Elon Musk's Starlink chain as it goes over Southern France.
I've checked my captures and not seen anything that I can link to the pass times ...... which is good as I don't actually want them!
 
Current RMOB data for December:  This is live so will update each hour with the latest results.

 
 
Al

Very, very rarely do I have a go at the moon, but it was so prominent last night I had a go at 18:30. Plan was to go to an observatory meeting and then come back and go deep sky. When I git back it had all gone ☹️
 
Still, pleased with this, 500 frames on the ASI183MM through the GT81, processed in Autostakkert and Registax..
 
 

Picture of the Month November 2019
 
A poor month clear sky wise unfortunately but some hardy folk have been out there catching photons, well done all.

We've made a few festive tweaks to the forum to celebrate the festive season: twinkling lights, a snowy logo and falling snow. 🎅🏻 Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Anyone follow Nasa's 'Astronomy picture of the day" ?
If you don't i thought i'd share todays image with you.
 
What an amazing object, from the Amazing Hubble Space Telescope !
 
It's known as Hoag's object or Hoag's galazy.
Its very faint at Magnitude 16 and is located in the constellation of Serpens, and is a mere 600 million light years away.
It doesn't have NGC classification and is listed as PGC (Principle galaxy catalogue) 54599
 
If only i could see something like that from my own telescope ?!! 😀🔭
 

 

I bagged a bonus 4hrs last night to top up my data on M45 - The Pleiades. It's coming along nicely. Starting to see the surrounding dust. 7.5hrs total up to now. Pure RGB with my Redcat \ Canon 450d combo.

Hi,
 Had major issue with the laptop dying last week. Thankfully a replacement motherboard sorted it, or I would have been stuffed for EMS5!.
 
 So, having played with SGPro at Kelling for the first time, including autofocus on filter changes, I was keen to try it out at home. This is a single evenings images. Only 8x10 minute exposures on each of the Sii, Ha, and Oiii filters, so noise could be a bit better. Still, very pleased to have got this in one evening..
 
 

This was taken last night through constant high cloud.
Considering the conditions I am amazed it turned out like it did.
 
600 second subs in HA, OIII and SII with a combined total time of 7 hours.
 
Williams Optics GT 81 with 0.6 FR /FF.
QSI 683 WSG.
Captured and stacked in Maxim.
Beaten into submission in PS 6.
 

Ts 71 lrgb from Kelling and home
 
I will try to get some ha before I call this finished.
 

Almost forgot I’d done this one 😁 C8 & Hyperstar and just over 2 hrs integration. Hope you like it

Hi everyone - I shot this with my Canon 5D MkII, Redcat scope and Altair astro Quadband OSC filter just before my holiday. Still catching up on my proceessing backlog. Just over 3 hrs integration of 2 min subs @ ISO 1600

This was a double stack/stitch composed from about 150 frames with my Mak and DSLR. Focal length was about 4.6m, ISO 100 and 1/25 second exposure.